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Sacred text
AS A PIECE of legislation such as the Transport Bill moves towards its final form its supporters tend more and more to regard those items which have been the subject of dispute as immutable doctrines which brook no further argument. Some of the major changes proposed by the Lords were almost bound to be rejected in the House of Commons. Less definitely anticipated was the refusal of amendments which on the face of it did not appear to be fundamental.
One such amendment would have allowed an applicant for an operator's licence to concentrate on one Licensing Authority his request in respect of all his operating centres. Large operators on ownaccount with branches all over the country would have gained most from this. It would have enabled them to rationalize their arrangements for what is to them the almost new problem of licensing.
A large trader or manufacturer with an established reputation would expect his quality licence or licences to be granted without difficulty. On the other hand as any haulier can tell him from past experience it is important to make the application in the proper form and at the proper time with all the necessary facts and figures.
Within a short time the licensing system will harden into a structure as rock-like as its predecessor. It will need an expert to find his way about it surefootedly. The operator will have to hire or employ one or more licensing officials. It will help him and save him money if their work can all be done in one place at the same time.
Many economies of this kind could be made by changes in the Bill which involve no great principle. Under the proposed amendment the operator would still have to meet all the conditions laid down, including the naming of a satisfactory transport manager for each depot and the rebuttal of any possible objections.
Quality licensing
The Government refused to accept the change. Mr. Stephen Swingler, Minister of State, Ministry of Transport, told the House of Commons last week that it would not be treating the quality licensing system seriously and would provide no proper check on the standard of vehicle maintenance if each application for each depot were not dealt with separately by the Licensing Authority in each area concerned.
Mr. Swingler rebuked MPs for failing to grasp the "essence" of the system in spite of so many patient explanations. The basic concept was the unit, the operating centre under the responsibility of a transport manager with local control by a Licensing Authority who knows about the maintenance facilities, the efficiency of the centre and the standard of management.
The response showed that MPs understood all this only too welL The degree of control available to the Licensing Authority will be considerable and there is little reason to suppose that he will not exercise it with discretion as at present. The fact remains that the .operator with a national business will find his transport department governed by 11 different Authorities. As is clear from the recently published reports of the Authorities each one has his own method of carrying out his duties. Although it may be remote there is always the possibility that practices which are common in most areas are found unacceptable in one.
The local transport manager could be placed in a difficult position. His double allegiance to employer and to Licensing Authority might be put to, the test more often than expected. The Licensing A:uthority himself could also be placed in a dilemma. If he had a suspicion that all was not well at a depot he might incline towards a friendly word with the manager in private.
Should this be effective all well and good. In other circumstances later, sterner action would have to be directed towards the operator at the company's headquarters. When this happens the Licensing Authority would be bound to report his earlier discussions with the manager. The operator might well fed aggrieved that he was not informed at the time when there might have been an opportunity to save a good deal of subsequent trouble and expense.
Before the vote was taken on the amendment with the inevitable majority against it Mr. Swingler attempted to reassure MPs that the decision was not for all time. Experience might reveal better ways of dealing with the problem. There is not much likelihood of this. Once a method has been fixed and a routine established they take root in the system and the longer they remain the more difficult it becomes to move them.
As if it were the gospel .for a new religion the Bill will now acquire a complicated ritual in the form of the numerous regulations that will have to be issued. As with most other ritual it will soon come to be regarded as worth while in its own right. The beliefs on which it is based may even fade into the background and be remembered only occasionally.
The argument over tachographs shows the process already at work. Drivers who are objecting to the point of a token strike are reassured that the appropriate regulations are still to be framed and that the consequences will in any event not be what they fear. In this way the effect is softened of the original statement in the White Paper on the transport of freight that "measures will be taken to streamline the work of enforcing observance of the law and to increase the effectiveness of the examiners whose job this is".
One of the measures, the White Paper continues, is the compulsory fitting of tachographs designed to give accurate and permanent records of driving time and other information about vehicle operation. The other information, it is now clear, will include the speed at which the vehicle is travelling.
Although no doubt the good driver should have no fear that the records will do him harm it is just the good driver who may regard them as an affront to his dignity. His every action is taken down and he fears may be used as evidence against him. He cannot be soothed with suggestions that the provisions in the Bill are intended only as the basis for a ceremonial structure with no deeper significance.
Quantity licensing
What is being said about quantity licensing is no more effective. The objections to it are supposed to be based on a misapprehension. If it is better for a trader's goods to be carried by road or if his interests would otherwise be harmed by a refusal the appropriate special authorization will be granted. On this reading of the Bill the elaborate procedure devised for considering applications, objections and appeals dissolves indeed into a formal ritual, even of benefit to the trader since after all he would not wish his traffic to go by road if it could indeed be better sent by rail.
All this may sound comforting if pointless. It is being put forward at the same time as the claim that after all quantity licensing will be no worse than the compulsory once-for-all donation by road operators of an average of 10 per cent of their traffic as a kind of blood transfusion to put the railways back in business. The loss should easily be made up within two years.
Operators persist in searching behind the myth for the reality. They do not find it credible that 10 per cent of their traffic is being carried in error—their error—and should with advantage to them be transferred to the railways. They are not prepared to accept that the loss of the traffic can be shrugged off as a mere postponement of the millennium.
The Government is making a strong effort to close the credibility gap. With tachographs and quantity licensing it is having little success. It has made more progress with quality licensing. A few individual hauliers have grumbled; the rest on the whole have stayed silent; a section of traders has waxed almost lyrical perhaps in relief at having something at last to praise. They see the dawn of freedom and the inevitable ritual seems unimportant.
Protests will now have to be saved up until the event. By rejecting the Lords amendment the Government has shown its determination to keep the administration of quality licensing under the close supervision of the Licensing Authorities and there is still much to be revealed about the precise function of that mysterious newcomer, the transport manager.